


Ran Shen

by bedb



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), The Bitter March
Genre: 1966, Friendship, Gen, Remembrance, implied revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 23:28:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2002170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bedb/pseuds/bedb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>once a young SHIELD agent became friends with the Winter Soldier</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ran Shen

**Author's Note:**

> I in no way have any connections with Marvel..just love it.
> 
> This story was influenced by the ending of the comic The Bitter March. The main character is Ran Shen, a SHIELD agent in 1966. It's my take that the Nick Fury in 1966 is Dad to Nick Fury 2014.
> 
> Ran knows who the man on the bridge is.

In 1966 Ran Shen had been a young man on his first assignment with Nick Fury Senior in the Nosvekistani Mountains. They were to bring Mila and Peter Hitzig in from the cold or terminate them with extreme prejudice. SHIELD, Hydra and the Soviets were all desperate to get their hands on the husband and wife team who had finally perfected the Alchemy Formula. Shield had sent him and Fury to capture them, Hydra had sent every nasty creep they had to intercept them, but the one Ran remembered most clearly was the Soviet assassin, James the Winter Soldier. James who had gotten his memory back when the Hydra hit man Drain had tapped into his head and unintentionally returned all his memories to him.

Watching the man on the TV in black with the silver arm wreck havoc on everything around him, Ran knew it was James. So he had survived after Nick blew up the Soviet helicopter that James had been piloting in an attempt to get Mila to a safe place. James who was going to come in from the cold when he got Mila to a safe place, James who had become his friend for a short time while avoiding Soviets and Hydra. James who had saved his life not once but twice.

“So you survived,” he murmured to no one while wiping his forehead with the cold beer bottle. He was not really surprised; there had been something supernatural about James even back then. He had tracked them on foot over a winter landscape that was brutally cold and harsh, had survived a crash into the face of a mountain with Nick Fury clinging to him. Nick had survived the crash too but then Soldier’s body had taken the full impact of the crash. 

When Drain had killed Peter, Mila had turned to him for comfort, and as it turned out, the beautiful German woman had fallen hard for the handsome Chinese-American, and he for her. Ran had made promises to her and the Killer Angel who had been protecting them, promises that had involved safety, trust and friendship.

When they could rest in a remote hunter’s cabin Mila snuggled against Ran, while the Soldier kept watch, never resting, never letting his thoughts drift to other things. At least that was how Ran saw it. “You have things in your head that could bring down the Soviet Union,” Ran told the Soldier one night as they feasted on the back strap of a deer that the Soldier had killed. “Bring the Cold War to an end.” Then more urgently, he added, “James, you’ll be able to go home a hero.” James gave him a look that said he desperately wanted to go home.

“Perhaps,” he finally said and cut off a bite size chunk of meat with his blade, holding the meat between his teeth. “But we’re not there yet. Still gotta get your lady to safety. Then there’s some things I need to do.”

Ran sliced a piece of meat off for himself and one for Mila and gave the Soldier’s words some thought. After supper Mila became affectionate and wanted to cuddle with Ran. James glanced their way once and then went outside. Ran felt bad that they chased the Soldier outside, but Mila was insistent, and Ran made sure James did not have to stay in the darkening cold for very long.

Leaving Mila asleep by the fire, Ran went outside and found the Soldier standing with one foot propped on a over turned crate, his eyes on the stars overheard. The snow had moved further west, and overhead was the cathedral of God in all its glory. “It’s beautiful,” Ran said and offered the Soldier a Kool.

James looked at the package a moment and then accepted one. “I think I used to smoke Camels,” he said as Ran lit the cigarette. Inhaling deeply, he hissed as the nicotine surged through his blood. “It’s been awhile,” he said with a smile.

Ran didn’t know what you talked about with a Russian assassin, so he asked the first thing that popped in his head. “Got a girl back home?”

James gave him a look he couldn’t figure out and then said, “There’s no one.”

“Playing the field. I’m groovy with that,” he said with a half chuckle, wondering if American hippy slang was even known in Russia. James was a good looking man; he probably had a half dozen chicks waiting to tuck him in at night.

James looked down a moment and then back up at the sky. “There never is anyone,” he finally said without explaining. Throwing the cigarette on the ground, he crushed it under his boot and then picked it up. “Don’t leave anything, and you take first watch” he told Ran and went back inside to bed down near the fire. 

When Ran finally returned inside the cabin, both Mila and the Soldier were asleep near the fire that was starting to sputter. Mila looked so soft and warm, so tempting to curl beside, while the Soldier looked dead to the world. James was going to get them out, going to get Mila to a safe place before coming back for him. But that was before Nick blew up the helicopter.

He had tried to tell SHIELD about the Winter Soldier that he was still alive after Fury shot the helicopter out of the sky, out there somewhere maybe hurt needing their help. If they had not found his body, that could only mean the Soldier had not died in the explosion the way Mila had, murdered by Fury. SHIELD said no one could have survived the explosion and the Winter Soldier was just in Ran’s mind. And now fifty years later James was tearing up DC. Ran didn’t try to understand how James could still be so young with that strange strut of his. It didn’t matter to him. Yeah, James could strut all over their wasted corpses.

If Nick Fury Sr. had only waited long enough for Ran to tell him what was going on, none of this would be happening. James would have come in, Mila would be alive, and Hydra wouldn’t be declaring war on SHIELD. “Blow their asses up, James. Give’em hell,” Ran said and took another swig of the beer. “Do it for Mila….and me.”


End file.
